Welcome to A Moving Disorder!

Adventures with ChatGPT – or, how (not) to name a blog

/ Mark Sloan / 7 Comments

Much has been made of late about ChatGPT, the artificial intelligence chatbot that has everyone, from writers and editors, to computer programmers and software engineers, scrambling to understand what it all means for their careers. I’m not worried about losing my job – humans will always do “retiree” better than robots – so my first encounter with the program was one of curiosity rather than fear and loathing.

In my very first post I told the story of how I came to call my blog “A Moving Disorder.” I focused on the subtle difference between “movement” and “moving” in making my final choice. When I read it now, the whole process sounds a bit tweedy and philosophical – I can practically see myself in a comfy chair by a roaring fire, pipe in one hand, brandy snifter in the other, Irish wolfhound (“Rex”) curled at my feet. It was actually a bit messier than that.

Me, thinking big thoughts…

This is where ChatGPT enters the story: Around Christmas, when my son John Patrick, a tech guy, was visiting from Montana, I got stuck on coming up with a name for my blog. I asked him to use ChatGPT to see what title it might create for me. A good son, John Patrick jumped right on it. The following is the lightly edited transcript of Man versus Chatbot:

(John Patrick to ChatGPT): Can you suggest some names for a blog about personal experiences and science behind Parkinson’s? The author’s name is Mark Sloan and it should overall be positive sounding.

(ChatGPT replies): Here are a few suggestions:

  1. “Mark’s Journey with Parkinson’s”
  2. “Parkinson’s Chronicles with Mark Sloan”
  3. “The Science of Parkinson’s with Mark Sloan”
  4. “Finding Strength with Parkinson’s”
  5. “Living Well with Parkinson’s”
  6. “Mark Sloan’s Parkinson’s Journey”
  7. “Navigating Parkinson’s with Mark Sloan”
  8. “Positively Parkinson’s with Mark Sloan”
  9. “Science and Experience with Parkinson’s”
  10. “Living with Parkinson’s, Finding Hope with Mark Sloan”

(JP): Can you suggest some shorter, catchier names?

(CGPT): Here are a few shorter, catchy names:

  1. “Parky with Marky”
  2. “Mark’s Parky Adventures”
  3. “The Funny Side of Parkinson’s”
  4. “Laughing through Parkinson’s”
  5. “Parkinson’s and Chuckles”
  6. “The Chuckle Chronicles”
  7. “Finding Humor in Parkinson’s”
  8. “Laughing at Parkinson’s”
  9. “The Parkinson’s Party”
  10. “Parkinson’s and Laughter”

(JP): “Parky with Marky” – nice one, can you give me a few more ideas similar to that?

(CGPT): Certainly! Here are a few more ideas for a blog about Parkinson’s with a humorous approach:

  1. “Mark Sloan’s Parkinson’s Palooza”
  2. “The Parkinson’s Playground”
  3. “Mark’s Parkinson’s Party”
  4. “The Parkinson’s Punchline”
  5. “Parkinson’s and Laughter with Mark Sloan”
  6. “The Parkinson’s Comedy Club”
  7. “Laughing at Life with Parkinson’s”
  8. “The Parkinson’s Giggle Fest”
  9. “Humor and Healing with Parkinson’s”
  10. “The Parkinson’s Chuckle Zone”

(JP): Ok, can you try with a bit less humor and instead focus on short concise names no longer than “Parky with Marky”?

(CGPT): Certainly! Here are a few shorter, concise names for a blog about Parkinson’s:

  1. “Mark’s Parkinson’s Journey”
  2. “Living with Parkinson’s”
  3. “Parkinson’s and Strength”
  4. “Navigating Parkinson’s”
  5. “Finding Hope with Parkinson’s”
  6. “The Parkinson’s Experience”
  7. “Parkinson’s and Perseverance”
  8. “Overcoming Parkinson’s”
  9. “The Parkinson’s Journey”
  10. “Parkinson’s and Triumph”

(JP): These names are still too long. It’s ok if you use abbreviations or other clever shortcuts

(CGPT): Here are a few shorter names using abbreviations or clever shortcuts:

  1. “Parky with Mark”
  2. “Mark’s Parky Life”
  3. “Parkinson’s Strong”
  4. “Navigating Parky”
  5. “Hope for Parky”
  6. “The Parky Experience”
  7. “Persevering with Parky”
  8. “Overcoming Parky”
  9. “The Parky Journey”
  10. “Triumphing with Parky”

(JP): Thanks!

(CGPT): You’re welcome! I’m glad I could help. Let me know if you have any other questions.

(Me): In the end (i.e., around midnight), it was a tossup between “Parky with Marky” and “Mark Sloan’s Parkinson’s Palooza.” After a good night’s sleep, I went with “A Moving Disorder” (guaranteed chatbot-free).

Not my first rodeo…

/ Mark Sloan / Leave a comment

This is my second go-round with blogging. My first blog (boldly, if not very creatively, titled “Mark Sloan M.D.“) ran from 2011 to 2015. I started writing it following the publication of my book, Birth Day: A Pediatrician Explores the Science, the History, and the Wonder of Childbirth, intending it to be an ongoing discussion of childbirth-related issues and child health in general.

Shameless self-promotion…

Alas, the childbirth world is as polarized as anything else these days. On one end of the spectrum are the natural birth advocates, who see birth as a natural event that should be allowed to progress as nature intended; on the other end are the hospital-based birth practitioners, who see birth as potentially dangerous, prone to often unpredictable complications, and the hospital as the safest place to have a baby. The natural birth side views hospital birth as a ticket to interventions (epidurals, c-sections, etc.); the hospital birthers see home birth as unnecessarily risky, and its practitioners as willfully oblivious to the dangers.

Yes, I realize that’s a simplistic view of the state of American birth. The reality is that it’s more of a continuum; I encountered many doctors, midwives and nurses who worked to bridge the gap between sides. In my blog (and in Birth Day) I strove for a reasonable middle ground, sticking to the facts and encouraging women to make educated choices that aligned with their personal beliefs and preferences. From reader feedback I’ve received over time, I’m proud that my blog helped individual women achieve a meaningful birth experience, and that it helped to move some of the discussions along to resolution.

So far, in my limited exposure to PwP World, I don’t see such polarization. Could be that’s the case, or maybe since I’m still a fairly new member, I’m naive to the controversies. I look forward to finding out.

, , ,

About me

/ Mark Sloan / Leave a comment

I’m a writer, a retired pediatrician, a husband of nearly 40 years, a father of two grown children, and, since 2020, a person with Parkinson’s (PwP). My symptoms started well before I was diagnosed, though, meaning that for years and perhaps decades I was a Person Who Didn’t Know He Had Parkinson’s (PwdkhhP)… like most of us later-onset PwPs, I imagine.

I wanted to be a teacher before I became a pediatrician. Looking back, I see that that’s what I became after all—pediatrics is all about teaching. It’s about breaking down sometimes complex medical and scientific concepts into simple, comprehensible explanations…and then pitching those explanations to everyone from inquisitive kindergartners to frightened parents of tiny premature infants.

I got pretty good at it, and it’s in that spirit of demystifying often-complex Parkinson’s concepts—everything from the basic science of the disease, to epidemiology, genetics, treatment, and more—that I’ll approach this blog.

And I’ll warn potential readers–I’m prone to going down rabbit holes I find interesting. That’s how I learned, while writing my book Birth Day, that the first successful cesarean section was performed by a 19th-century woman masquerading as a male British Army surgeon, and that not all of Henry VIII’s wives got their heads chopped off. (Two of them died of childbirth complications.) Hopefully, you’ll enjoy my sometimes random digressions.

Personal Fun Fact:

I’m not McSteamy. I’m not Dick Van Dyke, either.

Biggest writing accomplishment:

My book, Birth Day: A Pediatrician Explores the Science, the History, and the Wonder of Childbirth, was published in early 2009 by Ballantine Books. It’s partly a memoir (I dragged many a family member into my story), partly an exploration of how humans came to give birth in the strange way that we do, and partly about the historical events that have shaped, and been shaped by, the birth of a child. There’s a lot of humor mixed in, too. Birth Day got great reviews—from the Washington Post, The Journal of Midwifery and Women’s Health, the New England Journal of Medicine, the San Francisco Chronicle, and many other publications. Birth Day was a Northern California Book Awards finalist, and was named a “Top 10 Science Book of 2010” by the Japan Financial Times. (Yes, there’s a Japanese edition. And no, I can’t read it.)

Biggest sports accomplishment:

I was once ranked in the top 50 in the world in that most glamorous of sporting events, the shot put. Granted, this was an age-group thing (I was 60, a relative youngster among my fellow 60-64-year-old competitors), I finished exactly 50th (right between beefy, middle-aged guys from Ireland and Latvia),and there were only about 150 men my age in the world that year still tossing around cannonballs for fun. Which, if you were grading my performance, means I’d get a B-minus or so. Still, I can truthfully say that I once ranked in the top 50 worldwide in something. I’ll probably have that carved on my tombstone.

More about the arcane world of senior shot-putting later…

Biggest pediatric accomplishment:

I loved the continuity that came with practicing pediatrics in one place for a long time. By the time I retired I was taking care of my “grandpatients”—the children of my grown-up patients, some of whom I’d known since they themselves were in the womb. It was a privilege to be a part of so many lives over so many years, both in sickness and in health.

Oh, and I never dropped any kids on their heads. (I’ll probably have that carved on my tombstone, too.)

Welcome to “A Moving Disorder”!

/ Mark Sloan / Leave a comment

I’m a writer and retired pediatrician, and the unlucky recipient of a 2020 diagnosis of Parkinson’s Disease. There are a lot of us PwPs (People with Parkinson’s) out there – an estimated 500,000 to 1 million Americans live with this disease. I hope to reach the PwP community, including those with the disease, their loved ones, and caregivers, and also anyone interested in science, history, oddball research, rabbit holes and, yes, even humor.

Because there’s more to life than Parkinson’s…

—–

Why “A Moving Disorder”? Isn’t Parkinson’s disease a movement disorder? 

True, Parkinson’s is classified as a “movement disorder,” defined as “a group of nervous system conditions that cause either increased movements or reduced or slow movements.” But the word “movement” strikes me as too static in this case, too stuck-in-one-place. Too much noun and not enough verb.

Take the definitions of “movement” and “moving.” Movement: “The act or process of moving.” Moving: “To be in motion.” It’s a subtle difference, but a real one, and a key to living with Parkinson’s.

Parkinson’s disease is a progressive disorder, with some good days and some bad days, its symptoms waxing and waning, always on the move. It’s the same for those of us who live with this disease—we’re moving­ to try to slow the progression, to beat back the disease, to feel more like our old selves, if only for a while. Dance, boxing, tai chi, yoga, running, strength training, etc., etc.—it’s all about keeping in motion. Moving.

And then there’s another meaning to moving: “Producing strong emotion, especially sadness or sympathy.” There’s no way around that one. People with Parkinson’s and their caregivers often encounter sadness—the emotions that come with diminished physical and mental capacities, your own or those of a loved one. But sadness doesn’t have to be the dominant emotion. There’s still joy and humor to be had.  

So…it’s A Moving Disorder. Okay?

I hope you’ll enjoy my blog. I plan to focus on Parkinson’s—the science of the disease, its history (James Parkinson was a fascinating fellow!) and my personal experiences and reflections. I’ll write about random things that interest me, too—there’s a lot more to life as a PwP than worrying about my nervous system going haywire…  

I hope to hear from you, too, whether you’re a Person with Parkinson’s, a friend or relative of a PwP, or just someone who likes to read about science, history, and personal musings. Please write!

My email address is mpjsloan@amovingdisorder.blog.

Thanks!

Mark Sloan MD

Santa Rosa, California